System for detecting image abnormalities

ABSTRACT

Image capture systems including a moving platform; an image capture device having a sensor for capturing an image, the image having pixels, mounted on the moving platform; and a detection computer executing an abnormality detection algorithm for detecting an abnormality in the pixels of the image immediately after the image is captured by scanning the image utilizing predetermined parameters indicative of characteristics of the abnormality and then automatically and immediately causing a re-shoot of the image.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

The present patent application claims priority to the patent applicationidentified by U.S. Ser. No. 15/043,068, filed on Feb. 12, 2016, now U.S.Pat. No. 9,633,425; which is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 13/744,174,filed Jan. 17, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,262,818; which claims priorityto the patent application identified by U.S. Ser. No. 12/112,837, filedApr. 30, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,385,672, which claims priority to theprovisional patent application identified by U.S. Ser. No. 60/926,985,the entire content of all of which are hereby incorporated herein byreference.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As background, in the remote sensing/aerial imaging industry, imagery isused to capture views of a geographic area and to be able to measureobjects and structures within the images as well as to be able todetermine geographic locations of points within the image. These aregenerally referred to as “geo-referenced images” and come in two basiccategories:

Captured Imagery—these images have the appearance they were captured bythe camera or sensor employed.

Projected Imagery—these images have been processed and converted suchthat they confirm to a mathematical projection.

All imagery starts as captured imagery, but as most software cannotgeo-reference captured imagery, that imagery is then reprocessed tocreate the projected imagery. The most common form of projected imageryis the ortho-rectified image. This process aligns the image to anorthogonal or rectilinear grid (composed of rectangles). The input imageused to create an ortho-rectified image is a nadir image—that is, animage captured with the camera pointing straight down. It is often quitedesirable to combine multiple images into a larger composite image suchthat the image covers a larger geographic area on the ground. The mostcommon form of this composite image is the “ortho-mosaic image” which isan image created from a series of overlapping or adjacent nadir imagesthat are mathematically combined into a single ortho-rectified image.

When creating an ortho-mosaic, this same ortho-rectification process isused, however, instead of using only a single input nadir image, acollection of overlapping or adjacent nadir images are used and they arecombined to form a single composite ortho-rectified image known as anortho-mosaic. In general, the ortho-mosaic process entails the followingsteps:

A rectilinear grid is created, which results in an ortho-mosaic imagewhere every grid pixel covers the same amount of area on the ground.

The location of each grid pixel is determined from the mathematicaldefinition of the grid. Generally, this means the grid is given an X andY starting or origin location and an X and Y size for the grid pixels.Thus, the location of any pixel is simply the origin location plus thenumber of pixels times the size of each pixel. In mathematical terms:Xpixel=Xorigin+Xsize×Columnpixel and Ypixel=Yorigin+Ysize×Rowpixel.

The available nadir images are checked to see if they cover the samepoint on the ground as the grid pixel being filled. If so, amathematical formula is used to determine where that point on the groundprojects up onto the camera's pixel image map and that resulting pixelvalue is then transferred to the grid pixel.

Because the rectilinear grids used for the ortho-mosaic are generallythe same grids used for creating maps, the ortho-mosaic images bear astriking similarity to maps and as such, are generally very easy to usefrom a direction and orientation standpoint.

In producing the geo-referenced aerial images, hardware and softwaresystems designed for georeferencing airborne sensor data exist. Forexample, a method and apparatus for mapping and measuring land isdescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,356. In addition, a system produced byApplanix Corporation of Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada and sold underthe trademark “POS AV” provides a hardware and software system fordirectly georeferencing sensor data. Direct Georeferencing is the directmeasurement of sensor position and orientation (also known as theexterior orientation parameters), without the need for additional groundinformation over the project area. These parameters allow data from theairborne sensor to be georeferenced to the Earth or local mapping frame.Examples of airborne sensors include: aerial cameras (digital orfilm-based), multi-spectral or hyper-spectral scanners, SAR, or LIDAR.

The POS AV system was mounted on a moving platform, such as an airplane,such that the airborne sensor was pointed toward the Earth. Thepositioning system received position signals from a satelliteconstellation and also received time signals from an accurate clock. Thesensor was controlled by a computer running flight management softwareto take images. Signals indicative of the taking of an image were sentfrom the sensor to the positioning system to record the time andposition where the image was taken.

When capturing images with a digital sensor, a variety of abnormalitiessuch as elevated sensor noise levels, streaks, blooms or smears can beformed within the captured image. Such abnormalities can be caused bymalfunctions of the image capture device, or by the externalenvironment. For example, in aerial photography, in particular,reflections of the sun off of shiny or reflective surfaces such aslakes, windows, greenhouses or windshields can cause blooms which smearto form streaks in the captured image. An exemplary photograph having astreak formed from reflections off of water is shown in FIG. 15. When astreak is captured in an image, the image capture device's sensor isusually overstimulated near the location of the streak or hot spot. Thistypically ruins a part of the image and causes the manual reschedulingat a later time/date of another image of the same area to be taken.Because the abnormality is not detected until after the airplane haslanded and the images are processed, the re-taking of another image ofthe same area typically results in time delays and costly re-flights.

Therefore, there is a need to eliminate the time delays and costlyre-flights associated with abnormalities occurring in captured aerialimagery. It is to such a system for eliminating the time delays andcostly re-flights that the present invention is directed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary image capture systemconstructed in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of another example of an image capturesystem constructed in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of yet another example of an image capturesystem constructed in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the image capture system depicted in FIG.1.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of one version of an event multiplexer systemconstructed in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic view of a timing/logic flow of an eventmultiplexer constructed in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of another version of an event multiplexersystem constructed in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of yet another version of an event multiplexersystem constructed in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of another version of an image capture systemconstructed in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view illustrating the capturing of an imagehaving an abnormality obscuring a portion of the image.

FIG. 10A is a block diagram of another embodiment of an image capturesystem constructed in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 11 illustrates a first image having the abnormality obscuring afirst portion of the first image.

FIG. 12 illustrates a second image, taken shortly after the first image,and having the abnormality obscuring a second portion of a second image.

FIG. 13 illustrates a third image based upon the first image and havingpixels from the second image used to fill in the portion of the firstimage obscured by the abnormality.

FIG. 14 is a diagrammatic view of an exemplary image capture device'ssensor.

FIG. 15 is an exemplary aerial photograph having a streak formed fromreflections of the sun off of water.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, itis to be understood that the invention is not limited in its applicationto the details of construction, experiments, exemplary data, and/or thearrangement of the components set forth in the following description orillustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of otherembodiments or being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, itis to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed hereinis for purposes of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

Referring to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, showntherein and designated by a reference numeral 10 is an image capturesystem constructed in accordance with the present invention. The imagecapture system 10 is typically used for capturing aerial images as shownin FIGS. 1 and 2. However, while the image capture system 10 isextremely useful for aerial imaging, it has numerous otherapplications—such as when a system has more external triggers thaninputs on a device that must react to the external triggers. Forinstance, as shown in FIG. 3, a municipality might have an intersectionwith a high occurrence of speeding. In this case, the municipality mightwish to install a speed monitoring device, such as a radar gun, combinedwith multiple independently controlled image capture devices 14 toprecisely link the time of image capture to the time of radar reading.

The images can be oblique images, orthogonal images, or nadir images, orcombinations thereof.

As shown in FIG. 4, the image capture system 10 is provided with, one ormore image capture devices 14, optionally one or more monitoring systems16, optionally one or more event multiplexer systems 18, and one or moredata storage units or computer systems 20. The event multiplexersystem(s) 18 can be made and used as disclosed in FIGS. 5-9 andparagraphs [0037], [0042] -[0058] of the provisional patent applicationidentified by U.S. Ser. No. 60/926,985 and which is incorporated byreference herein. In the examples depicted in FIGS. 1-3, the imagecapture system 10 is provided with four image capture devices 14 mountedin a sweep pattern (FIG. 1); five image capture devices 14 mounted in a360 pattern having image capture devices 14 pointing fore, aft, port,starboard and straight down (FIG. 2); four image capture devices 14mounted in separate directions generally aligned with respective partsof streets (FIG. 3).

In certain embodiments depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2, the image capturedevices 14, the one or more monitoring systems 16, the one or more eventmultiplexer systems 18 and the computer system 20 are mounted to amoving platform 21. The moving platform 21 or 102 (shown in FIG. 10) canbe any type of device or system that can move through space in apredetermined, or random manner. Typically, the moving platform 21 is amanned airplane, but it should be understood that the moving platform 21can be implemented in other manners. For example, the moving platform 21can be implemented as an unmanned airplane, a train, an automobile suchas a van, a boat, a four wheeler, a motor cycle, tractor, a roboticdevice or the like.

The image capture devices 14 are mounted to the moving platform 21, andonce mounted are typically calibrated so that the exact position andorientation of the image capture devices 14 are known with respect to atleast a portion of the moving platform 21. For example, as shown inFIGS. 1 and 2, the image capture devices 14 can be mounted onto a commonsubstrate 22 and calibrated with respect to the substrate 22. It shouldbe noted that all of the cables, wires or other signal paths connectingthe image capture devices 14, monitoring system 16, event multiplexer 18and computer system 20 are not shown in FIGS. 1-3 for purposes ofclarity. The substrate 22 having the image capture devices 14 mountedthereto is then mounted to the moving platform 21. In the embodimentdepicted in FIG. 1, the image capture devices 14 are mounted internallyto the moving platform 21 and the moving platform 21 has one or moreopening 23 for the image capture devices 14 to sense data through.

In other embodiments, one or more of the image capture devices 14 can bemounted externally to the moving platform 21. For example, in FIG. 2 theimage capture devices 14 are mounted to an under-wing pod.

Each of the image capture devices 14 has a sensor (e.g., FIG. 14) forcapturing sensor data, such as an image. Each of the image capturedevices 14 is also provided with an event channel 26 providing an eventsignal indicating the capturing of an image by the sensor. The eventchannel 26 can be any device that provides a signal coincident with thecapturing of the image, such as a flash output. The sensor can capturethe image in an analog manner, digital manner, or on film. Further, itshould be understood that the image can be stored electronically,optically, or provided on a film-based medium.

The monitoring system 16 records data indicative of the capturing of theimages. For example, the monitoring system 16 can record position dataas a function of time, time data and/or orientation data. In theembodiments depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2, the monitoring system 16 recordsposition data as a function of time, as well as time data and/ororientation data related to the moving platform 21. In the embodimentdepicted in FIG. 3, the monitoring system 16 records time data.Preferably, the monitoring system 16 automatically and continuouslyreads and/or records the data. However, it should be understood that themonitoring system 16 can read and/or record the data in other manners,such as on a periodic basis, or upon receipt of a signal to actuate themonitoring system 16 to obtain and record the data. For example, theevent signals produced by the event multiplexer system 18 can beprovided to the monitoring system 16 to cause the monitoring system 16to read and/or record the data indicative of position as a function oftime related to the moving platform 21.

In the embodiments depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2, the monitoring system 16also includes a satellite receiver 34 typically receiving position andtiming signals from a satellite constellation 36, using any appropriateprotocol, such as GPS or loran, although other types of positiondetermining systems can be used, such as Wireless Application Protocol(WAP).

The computer system 20 receives and stores (preferably in the database38) the information indicative of the order of events indicated by theevent signals, and identification of image capture devices 14 providingthe event signals. The computer system 20 optionally also receives andstores the images (preferably in the database 38) generated by the imagecapture devices 14. The monitoring system 16 records the data indicativeof the capturing of images by storing it internally, outputting it tothe computer system 20, or outputting such data in any other suitablemanner, such as storing such data on an external magnetic or opticalstorage system. The position related to the moving platform 21 can beprovided in any suitable coordinate system, such as an X, Y, Zcoordinate system.

Further, the image capture system 10 can be provided with an orientationsystem, such as an inertial measurement unit 40 for capturing othertypes of information with respect to the moving platform 21, such as theorientation of the moving platform 21. The inertial measurement unit 40can be provided with a variety of sensors, such as accelerometers (notshown) for determining the roll, pitch and yaw related to the movingplatform 21. Further, it should be understood that the position and/ororientation information does not necessarily have to be a positionand/or orientation of the moving platform 21. The position andorientation information is simply related to the moving platform 21,i.e. the position and/or orientation of the moving platform 21 should beable to be determined by the information recorded by the monitoringsystem 16. For example, the position and orientation information can beprovided for a device connected to the moving platform 21. Then, theposition and orientation for each image capture device can be determinedbased upon their known locations relative to the moving platform 21.

In using the systems depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2, the image capturedevices 14 or 14 a are mounted on the moving platform 21, such as anairplane, such that image capture devices 14 or 14 a are pointed towardan object, such as the Earth. The moving platform 21 is then actuated tomove, and the image capture devices 14 or 14 a capture images atpre-determined or random times or positions. Typically, the imagecapture devices 14 or 14 a will be independently controlled by flightmanagement software running on the computer system 20 or 20 a and thetaking of the images will be pre-determined. In any event, as the imagecapture devices 14 or 14 a capture the images, signals are passed to theevent multiplexers system 18 and the order of events (relative orabsolute), image capture device identification and the position as afunction of time data is logged and stored by the cooperation of theevent multiplexer system(s) 18, monitoring system(s) 16 or 16 a (shownin FIG. 9 of the provisional patent application identified by U.S. Ser.No. 60/926,985) and computer systems 20 or 20 a (shown in FIG. 9 of theprovisional patent application identified by U.S. Ser. No. 60/926,985)asdescribed above. Then, the images are geo-referenced as described in theBackground of the Invention section above utilizing the recorded dataregarding the order of events (relative or absolute), image capturedevice identification and the position as a function of time data.

In using the system depicted in FIG. 3, the image capture devices 14 or14 a are mounted adjacent to the intersection. For example, the imagecapture devices 14 or 14 a can be mounted to separate traffic lightpoles such that the image capture devices 14 or 14 a are pointed at thestreets entering or leaving the intersection. The system depicted inFIG. 3 also includes a radar gun pointing at the intersection to sensethe speed of cars moving through the intersection. When a car speedsthrough the intersection, one or more of the image capture devices 14 or14 a can be actuated (preferably by a computer controlled managementsystem) to preferably take a picture of the driver and tag of the car,while the event multiplexer system(s) 18 capture data such as time datacorrelated with the data produced by the radar gun. This precisely linksthe time of image capture to the time of radar reading to provideevidence of the identity of the speeding car and driver.

Referring now to FIGS. 10-12, shown therein is a perspective viewillustrating the capturing of an aerial image of one or more objects 100(shown by way of example as an automobile) by an image capture system 10b mounted to a moving platform 102 such as an airplane or van, as wellas first, and second overlapping images 104, 106 of the automobilecaptured by the image capture system 10 b. Shown in FIG. 13 is a thirdimage 108 formed as a combination of the first and second images 104 and106 as will be described below.

The image capture system 10 b is similar in construction and function tothe image capture system 10 or 10 a described above, with the exceptionthat the image capture system 10 b (shown in FIG. 10A) includes one ormore detection computer(s) 103-1 executing an abnormality detectionalgorithm 103-2 for detecting abnormalities immediately after an imageis captured and then automatically and immediately causing a re-shoot ofthe image upon detection of an abnormality.

In the example shown in FIG. 10, the image capture system 10 b iscapturing the first image 104 of the automobile 100. In this case, theautomobile 100 has a reflective surface, i.e., a windshield 110 whichcauses a bright reflection of light from the sun 112 through the lensand onto a sensor 114 (FIG. 14) of one of the image capture devices 14or 14 a. The bright reflection of light causes an abnormality 118, e.g.,a hot spot or streak in the first image 104 obscuring a portion of thefirst image 104 that would have been captured in the absence of thebright reflection of light. The streak is usually caused by bloom andsmearing inherent to the digital sensor or rapid movement of the object.Other examples of reflective surfaces encountered in aerial photographyinclude windows, greenhouses, swamps, sand, and bodies of water, such asponds, lakes, rivers and streams.

FIG. 11 illustrates the first image 104 having the abnormality 118obscuring a first portion 120 of the first image 104. FIG. 12illustrates the second image 106, taken shortly (e.g., commonly in therange of about 5-1000 ms) after the first image 104 with the imagecapture device 14 or 14 a in a different location due to the movement ofthe image capture device 14 or 14 a, and having the abnormality 118obscuring a second portion 122 of the second image 106. The delaybetween the taking of the first and second images can be a function ofthe size and/or type of the abnormality. For example, assuming that theabnormality is a streak, the width of the streak can be measured and thedelay set so that the second image 106 will permit the portion of theobject obscured by the streak to be captured.

FIG. 13 illustrates the third image 108 produced as an optional featureof the present invention. The third image 108 is formed from acombination of the first and second images 104 and 106. The third image108 includes pixels from the first image 104 or the second image 106which were not obscured by the abnormality. Pixels from the first orsecond image 104 or 106 are added to the third image 108 to fill in theportion of the first or second image 104 or 106 obscured by theabnormality 118. In one embodiment, the third image 108 is formed afterthe airplane has landed and the first and second images 104 and 106 havebeen processed.

To aid the detection of abnormalities, the image capture system 10 bpreferably utilizes digital cameras with each digital camera having oneor more sensor 114. A diagrammatic view of the sensor 114 is shown inFIG. 14. The sensor typically contains millions of photosensitive solidstate devices, such as diodes, charge coupled devices or transistors,called photosites 124. Only 81 photosites are shown in FIG. 14 forpurposes of clarity. Three of the photosites are labeled with thereference numerals 124 a, 124 b and 124 c for purposes of clarity. Whenan image is being captured, each photosite records the intensity orbrightness of the light that falls on it by accumulating a charge; i.e.,the more light the higher the charge. The brightness recorded by eachphotosite is then stored as a set of numbers that can then be used toset the color and brightness of pixels in the image.

The sensor 114 has an image area 130 and a dark area 132 bordering theimage area 130. The dark area 132 can serve as a reference to the imagearea 130. The dark area 132 may be referred to herein as a “referencearea”. The image area 130 is shown in light gray, and the dark area 132is shown in darker gray. The photosites 124 a and 124 b are located inthe image area 130 while the photosite 124 c is located in the dark area132. The sensor 114 can be configured as an area array sensor withphotosites arranged in a grid pattern covering the entire image area 130and at least part of the dark area 132. When the image is read from thesensor 114, the stored electrons are converted to a series of analogcharges which are then converted to digital values by anAnalog-to-Digital (A to D) converter (not shown).

Once the sensor 114 has captured the image, it must be read, convertedto digital, and then stored. The image can be stored and logged in themanner described above. The charges stored on the sensor 114 aretypically not read all at once but a row, pixel or column at a time.When a row or column is read at a time, pixel values in each row orcolumn are read in a sequential manner by moving the pixel values up ordown the row or column through the dark area 132 of the sensor 114 asindicated by an arrow 134.

To detect an abnormality, the abnormality detection algorithm 103-2scans the image utilizing predetermined parameters indicative ofcharacteristics of abnormalities. One method to locate certain types ofabnormalities, is to monitor the pixel values (or an average of thepixel values) in the dark area 132 as the pixel values are being movedthrough the dark area 132. Another method is to scan/analyze the imageusing pattern recognition techniques to locate one or more abnormality.For example, the image can be scanned/analyzed after it has been movedthrough the dark area 132 and stored in memory.

As an example, shown in FIG. 14 is an abnormality 118, i.e., a streakexposed to the photosites 124 in a column containing photosites 124 band 124 c. During scanning, when the data in the column having thephotosites 124 b and 124 c is moved in the direction 134, an elevatedvalue in the photosite 124 c can be detected. As a further example, FIG.15 is an exemplary aerial photograph 140 having a streak 142 formed fromreflections of the sun off of water 144.

When the pixel values exceed a predetermined or dynamic threshold valueindicative of a streak or hot spot, then the abnormality detectionalgorithm 103-2 causes the detection computer 103-1 to output a signalcausing one or more immediate re-shoot(s) of the image. The term“immediate” as used herein means occurring, acting, or accomplishedwithout substantial loss or interval of time. The interval of timebetween the capturing of the first and second images 104 and 106 maydepend upon a variety of factors, such as the time involved in detectingthe abnormality, the size or type of the abnormality, and the timeinvolved in actuating the image capture device 14 or 14 a to capture thesecond image 106.

To capture the portion of the object originally scheduled to becaptured, the abnormality detection algorithm 103-2 can cause one ormore re-shoots without detecting whether the abnormality is captured inthe re-shot images, or the abnormality detection algorithm 103-2 canscan each re-shot image and cause another re-shoot until the earlier of(1) a re-shot image not containing an abnormality, or (2) the nextscheduled image to be taken by the image capture device 14 or 14 a.

Alternatively, the abnormality detection algorithm 103-2 can flag animage as “bad” and cause the detection computer 103-1 to send a signalto the flight management software executed on the computer systems 20 or20 a to automatically schedule a re-shoot for a future time. Preferably,the detection computer 103-1 schedules a re-shoot of the image such thatthe image is retaken before landing of the airplane.

It should be understood that certain of the processes described above,such as the formation of the third image 108, can be performed with theaid of a computer system running image processing software adapted toperform the functions described above. Further, the first, second andthird images and data, as well as the abnormality detection algorithm103-2 are stored on one or more computer readable mediums. Examples of acomputer readable medium include an optical storage device, a magneticstorage device, an electronic storage device or the like. The term“Computer System” as used herein means a system or systems that are ableto embody and/or execute the logic of the processes, such as theabnormality detection algorithm 103-2, described herein. The logicembodied in the form of software instructions or firmware may beexecuted on any appropriate hardware which may be a dedicated system orsystems, or a general purpose computer system, or distributed processingcomputer system, all of which are well understood in the art, and adetailed description of how to make or use such computers is not deemednecessary herein. The detection computer 103-1 can be the same physicalcomputer as the computer systems 20 or 20 a, or different from thecomputer systems 20 or 20 a. In one embodiment, the image capture system10 b includes a detection computer implemented as a part of one of theimage capture devices 14 or 14 a. For example, the image capture system10 b can include multiple detection computers with each detectioncomputer implemented as a part of one image capture device 14 or 14 a.In this embodiment, each of the one or more detection computers monitorsthe images being captured by its respective image capture device 14 or14 a and can cause a re-shoot by either passing a signal to the computersystems 20 or 20 a, or by passing a signal directly to the image capturedevice 14 or 14 a.

It will be understood from the foregoing description that variousmodifications and changes may be made in the preferred and alternativeembodiments of the present invention without departing from its truespirit.

This description is intended for purposes of illustration only andshould not be construed in a limiting sense. The scope of this inventionshould be determined only by the language of the claims that follow. Theterm “comprising” within the claims is intended to mean “including atleast” such that the recited listing of elements in a claim are an opengroup. “A,” “an” and other singular terms are intended to include theplural forms thereof unless specifically excluded.

What is claimed is:
 1. An image capture system, comprising: a movingplatform; an image capture device having a sensor for capturing an imagehaving pixels, the image capture device mounted on the moving platform;and a detection computer executing an abnormality detection algorithmfor detecting an abnormality in the pixels of the image immediatelyafter the image is captured by scanning the image utilizingpredetermined parameters indicative of characteristics of theabnormality and then automatically and immediately causing a re-shoot ofthe image.
 2. The image capture system of claim 1, wherein theabnormality is caused by overstimulation of the sensor of the imagecapture device, causing at least a portion of the image to be obscured.3. The image capture system of claim 1, wherein automatically andimmediately causing a reshoot of the image is defined further as causinga sequence of re-shoots of the image.
 4. The image capture system ofclaim 3, wherein the image is a first scheduled image scheduled forcapture before a second scheduled image, and wherein causing a sequenceof re-shoots of the first scheduled image is defined further as causinga sequence of re-shoots of the first scheduled image until the secondscheduled image.
 5. The image capture system of claim 3, wherein causinga sequence of re-shoots of the image is defined further as causing asequence of re-shoots of the image without detecting whether theabnormality is captured in the re-shoots of the image.
 6. The imagecapture system of claim 3, wherein causing a sequence of re-shoots ofthe image is defined further as executing the abnormality detectionalgorithm for detecting an abnormality in the pixels of the re-shoots ofthe image immediately after each of the re-shoots of the image iscaptured by scanning each of the re-shoots of the image utilizingpredetermined parameters indicative of characteristics of theabnormality and ending the sequence of re-shoots of the image upon alack of detection of an abnormality in one or more of the re-shoots ofthe image.
 7. An image capture system, comprising: a moving platform; animage capture device mounted on the moving platform and having a sensorfor capturing an aerial image, the aerial image having pixels, thesensor having an image area and a dark area bordering the image area;and a detection computer executing an abnormality detection algorithmfor detecting an abnormality in the pixels of the aerial imageimmediately after the aerial image is captured by scanning the aerialimage utilizing predetermined parameters indicative of characteristicsof the abnormality and then automatically scheduling a re-shoot of theaerial image such that the re-shoot occurs prior to landing of theairplane.
 8. The image capture system of claim 7, wherein theabnormality is caused by overstimulation of the sensor of the imagecapture device, causing at least a portion of the aerial image to beobscured.
 9. The image capture system of claim 7, wherein automaticallyscheduling a re-shoot of the aerial image such that the re-shoot occursprior to landing of the airplane is further defined as automaticallyscheduling a re-shoot of the aerial image such that the re-shoot occursprior to landing of the airplane and after completion of the plannedflight plan.
 10. The image capture system of claim 7, wherein theabnormality detection algorithm causes the detection computer to scanthe aerial image by monitoring pixel values of the aerial image as thepixel values are moved through the dark area of the sensor.
 11. Theimage capture system of claim 7, wherein the abnormality detectionalgorithm causes the detection computer to scan the aerial image usingpattern recognition techniques to detect the abnormality in the pixelsof the aerial image.